Murder equals ratings
by judodave
Summary: Four unconnected deaths within four hours of eachother under one roof, what do they have in common? Showbiz! Can the CSIS crack the cases while the media spotlight is on them? Second in the series.
1. A Dish To Die For

"AND WE ARE LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS WITH THE SEASON FINALLE OF "WHAT'S COOKING" WITH ANDRE REMERE!" The announcer yelled over the PA system as the show went on the air, the set was that of a typical cooking show and it was pretty large, a average sized man with short, black hair, matching moustache and green eyes marched onto the stage wearing a chef's uniform.

"Bonjour, welcome, welcome, welcome to the show, tonight is the night that we have been preparing for all season, the season finale and it is my personal guarantee that this season will end with a bang!." Andre greeted in his thick French accent, the crowd cheered. "Tonight we will witness the birth of my masterpiece, the ultimate salad, a dish that is truly to die for." The crowd cheered once again, little knowing how true those words would be.

The show continued as normal from that moment onwards, the crowd watched in amazement as the chef prepared the dish with masterful skill; towards the end of the episode put a plate with a cover on it.

"And now, the moment you have all been waiting for!" Andre said removing the cover revealing a beautifully prepared Caesar salad with all the trimmings. The crowd burst into applause again.

"Ladies and Gentleman, don't clap yet, after all I have yet to take even a single bite!" Andre said producing a fork from his pocket, sticking it in the dish her pulled it out revealing a small piece of the salad, he stuck it in his mouth and started eating it, he gave the thumbs up and the crowd roared.

"There you have it folks, Andre's masterpiece is a success!" The announcer announced, however Andre collapsed to the floor five seconds after Andre swallowed it.

"ANDRE?! ANDRE?!" A young woman with short dark brown hair and green eyes and equally thick French accent ran onto the stage the moment she saw Andre collapse, she checked for a pulse and covered her mouth in shock. "IS THERE A DOCTOR HERE?!" It was at that moment that the audience knew that this was no act.

*Present Day*

Evan and Sophie entered the crime scene and were led to the body by James "Jim" Brass, the once busy set had turned a sombre quiet after the death of it's star.

"Hey guys, victim is Andre Remere, 32 years old, a famous TV chef here in Las Vegas." Jim greeted the CSIS as they entered the crime scene.

"I know, and it's damn shame too!" Evan said causing his colleagues to look at him oddly. "What? I fancy myself as an armature chef; I watch his show for inspiration!"

"Then how come whenever I've come round your apartment we ended up ordering Pizza?" Sophie teased, the two CSIS had bounded really well since they started working the night shift, same could be said for the rest of the night shift really.

"The oven happened to be broken both times, almost as if having a co-worker in my apartment is a curse, no offence." Evan replied sheepishly. "Besides, no one can make Pizza like my girlfriend's mother's pizzeria, you have to admit."

"True, true, wait, wasn't Gill accompanying us on this one?" Sophie realized.

"He's over with Dave at the body." Brass told her.

"And here I thought Gill was late for once, I guess my heart can resume beating." She said getting a laugh out of her colleagues.

"Laugh it up you two, we have a crime scene to investigate." Gill called from the body, the young CSIS approached the body and crouched down.

"Hi Dave, have you got a time of death?" Sophie asked the assistant coroner.

"Liver temp puts it around midnight." Dave said. "So he died about an hour ago."

"Actually I'd say it was closer to 11:50pm." Evan said absentmindedly.

"It's impossible to be that exact with the time of death." Dave said dismissively.

"Here me out Dave, Gill didn't the incident report say that Andre dropped dead towards the end of the show?" Evan asked.

"That's right." Gill said.

"Well I've watched the show enough times to know that it ends around midnight, depending on whether or not the network pushes it back for some sporting event or terrible tragedy, Andre usually tastes the food ten minutes before the show ends and then shares it with the audience, obviously that wasn't the case here." Evan said.

"Impressive." Gill complemented him.

"Who discovered the victim?" Sophie asked, Gill said nothing and pointed to the audience and the crew members.

"They did, the show was still on air when he dropped dead." Gill said.

"Whoever's collecting their elimination prints and DNA'S going to have a hell of a task." Sophie said.

"I know, I vote that you do it!" Evan said.

"Second." Gill said before she could intervene.

"Fine, Brass you mind giving me a hand with this?" Sophie asked the homicide captain.

"Sure kid." Brass said as he started to follow her.

"Be sure to interview the victim's sister as well, she checked for a pulse when he collapsed." Gill called after her before turning to Dave. "Is there anything else?"

"No obvious cause of death, he couldn't of choked because he dropped dead seconds after ingestion without any breathing problems and I doubt it was a heart attack as he is young and in excellent shape." Dave commented. "We'll know more once we get him to Autopsy, now if you excuse me I have Greg's crimscene to get to, those guys can transport the body on their own." Dave said motioning to the Coroner team, Dave left the studio.

"Man, never thought I'd see so many unrelated deaths on one property." Evan commented as he put his gloves on. Evan was correct as their had been three other deaths in the studio, Catherine and Sara where investigating the death of a weather girl in her dressing room, Nick and Warrick where investigating the death of the building's receptionist and Greg was investigating the death of an extra in a made for TV horror flick that was being filmed, whilst it was odd that the four deaths accrued during the same day and on the same property (namely the TV studio) with no connections between them but the deaths had accrued over a period of four hours, the last being the one that Gil, Sophie and Evan where investigating.

"It's unusual, I have to agree there." Gil said. "In fact I think this maybe one for the record books."

"Let's just hope there isn't another one, otherwise Ecklie might have to come out of retirement." Evan said, he had met the former day shift supervisor a couple of times in his short career but something about him rubbed Evan the wrong way.

"Let's hope not, the last time Ecklie came out of retirement to process a crime scene the body was stolen from the morgue." Gil told him.

"Did he catch the murderer?" Evan asked.

"There wasn't one, the victim had died from a pre existing heart condition, and he did however arrest the man who had stolen the body." Gil said.

"So why did he steel it? Harvest the organs to sell on the black market?" Evan asked.

"No, the man stole the body so that his friend could attend the party that the man and his friends had planned for him. He claimed that it what his friend would've wanted." Evan gave his supervisor a funny look.

"Are you serious?" Evan asked.

"Sophie asked me the same thing when I told her." Gil responded. "Back to business though, Evan can you bag the salad/murder weapon?"

"I'm on it." Evan said carefully bagging the dish, only to be partially interrupted by the director running over from the lines that Brass and Sophie had formed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA, what the hell are you doing?" The director, a short pudgy man with balding black hair in a ponytail and green eyes, asked.

"Bagging evidence, now if you will just get back in line....."

"Evidence? EVIDENCE?! Kid that's the last dish that Andre made, no one but him knew how to make it."

"No one but him? He didn't share his recopies with anyone else?"

"No, the guy was a damn perfectionist, he had to do EVERYTHING himself in relation to the food, prepare it, marinade it, gather the ingredients, taste it first, I only put up with him because not only was he a damn good cook but he was marketable, unlike some of the other auditions that we had when the idea for the show got the OK." The director explained to Evan, a brief glance over at Grissom had told him that the last part gave him an idea. "As I was saying, you aint going to take that to the lab and dust it or whatever!"

"Nice to see you have your priorities straight, listen this salad could be poisoned and we don't even know what it was poisoned with yet even if that is that cause of death, now get back in line and wait for your turn." Evan told him.

"Not yet actually." Gill said standing up. "Sir, were any of the other auditions particularly bitter over the choice because he/she could be the killer?"

"Yeah, every other audition, the rest of the auditions where local chefs with their own restaurants and shit, Andre was just some poor immigrant from the South Of France who came over here with his sister, who I admit is smoking hot, his food impressed me and so did the way that he presented himself, you know I had never tried French Cuisine until I met him, mostly due to the fact that my directing gig kept me from going over there, but the minute I tried it I wanted to make love to it!"

"Err......"

"Relax kid; I was exenterating the last part." Evan let out a sigh of relief.

"We're going to need a list of the rest of the auditions."

"If it'll help then fine, soon as that hot broad and that ugly guy get my fingerprints and DNA I'll print you a copy." The director said walking off, Evan bagged the salad and turned to Gill.

"I don't know about you but he seems to be a likely suspect." Evan said in a low voice.

"I agree, the motive is clear enough, Andre was a pain in the ass off set and delicious food and marketability can only take tolerance so far." Gill said with a nod. "Evan you check the set for evidence, don't bother dusting for prints due to the fact that there are likely hundreds of them on the oven alone, I'm going to see how Sophie and Brass are doing." Gil said walking over to the line, to his surprise it had only just started due to the fact that rounding up the audience members was proving difficult.

"Okay people, settle down, I know that you're probably stressed over what has happened tonight but I will need you full cooperation." Sophie said finally raising her voice loud enough. "Detective Brass will take you fingerprints and I will take you DNA, if I have your DNA please form a line in front of Brass, if I don't then form a line in front of me." She said and the majority of the people in the room formed a line in front of her starting with a man in his late teens who was in the audience.

"Open wide please." Sophie said getting her swab out.

"You know, I can think of better ways for you get my DNA baby!" The man said with a wink before high fiving the man behind him who Sophie quickly identified as a friend of his.

"And that's called sexual harassment, now are you going to let me take you DNA or is Brass going to have to take you downtown?" Sophie said rolling her eyes.

"Oooh, playing hard to get are we....."

"No seriously, you don't want to know how tempted I am have Brass slap the cuffs on you."

"Fine, jeez!" The teenager said opening his mouth and allowing Sophie to swab it before going over to Brass.

"Fair warning kid, if that was my daughter I would've dragged you of to jail regardless." Brass warned him as he took his fingerprints. Sophie didn't have trouble with the guy's friend and things progressed nicely until they reached the last four, the director, the victim's sister, an old woman and another man in a chef's uniform, the chef was first to come up.

"Open wide please." Sophie said getting her swab out.

"I'm happy that son of a bitch is gone." The chef, a tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes who, judging by his accent was from New York, said.

"Excuse me?" Sophie asked surprised, she had seen plenty of reactions tonight, devoted fans of Andre morning his loss, confused children asking there parents why Andre didn't get up, perverts like the first guy, a doctor who had tried to revive Andre when he collapsed but this was unexpected.

"That guy plagiarized me, has done throughout his damn career, he stole my recipe ideas, my idea for a show, even the audience interaction segment and he passed it off as his own but I could never prove it." The chef said infuriated.

"_Don't you just love it when dumbasses practically add themselves to the suspect list?"_ Sophie thought with a grin that she tried to hide.

"Oh shut it Boris, how can you claim such a thing when you cook American style food whilst Andre cooked French Cuisine?" The victim's sister yelled at him,

"That maybe true but my cooking takes influence from French Cuisine so it still counts!" Boris yelled back.

"Look, as entertaining as this little exchange is my feet are hurting from standing here all day and I really need to sit down so can we please move this along?" Sophie finally said, Boris grumbled some choice words under his breath and Sophie took the DNA Swab, Boris moved over to Brass and the director came up next.

"Look lady, I have a press release to prepare for as there is sure to be a media storm surrounding not only this but everything else that has happened tonight so can we hurry it up?" The director asked.

"You're a man after my own heart." Sophie quipped. "Open wide please." The director complied and she took the swab. "Before you go over to Brass, do you know that chef?"

"Boris? Yeah I know him, great cook and all but he's a damn hothead, he was one of the auditions that lost to Andre and the only one that has bothered to stick around, his restaurant, I think it's called "Taste Of New York" or something along those lines, isn't open at night on the days of the shooting so he has a picture perfect opportunity to show up and harass Andre!" The director said.

"What do you mean by "harass"?" Gill asked, the director pointed to a seat in audience right at the back near the end of the row.

"You see that seat over there? Whenever we were filming a show he would be in that seat waiting for the audience interaction part to start where he would start a yelling match with Andre."

*flashback*

"And now, moisure would you like to try a piece of the finest steak in the world?" Andre said approaching Boris in the audience.

"No thanks, I already serve it at Taste of New York you plagiarizing Frenchie!" Boris said spitting on him.

"You again, face it Boris your claims are unfounded, besides the studio filed a restraining order against you, how the hell did you get in to start with?" Andre said clearly angered.

"A little bribe money goes a long way, of course you already know that don't ya?!" Boris asked standing up.

"SECURITY, SECURITY, GET THIS MAN OUT OF THE BUILDING! DID I MENTION CUT!!!!?????" The director yelled once he spotted Boris.

*end flashback*

"The guy has been a raving lunatic ever since Andre won the audition! He's been making all sorts of accusations, Andre bribed the judges, Andre stole ideas from him, he may as well of claimed that Andre slept with all three of my daughters!" The director said.

"Were any of those claims founded?" Sophie asked.

"Hell no, for one thing all Andre and his sister had when they came to this country was the cloths of their backs and last I checked the judges don't accept stripteases from smoking hot French girls as bribes!"

"As if I would be foolish enough stoop that low in the first place!" Andre's sister said with a scoff.

"And as for the second claim, don't even get me started! French Cuisine is called the finest food in the world for a damn good reason, it cannot be imitated! Sure Boris's cooking is influenced by it but that's all the connection it has!"

"And what about the third one, the one you made up?"

"Like you said, it was made up, and besides if he did he would be on the sex offenders list and be a prison bitch by now as all three of my daughters are pre-teens."

"That's everything; I think Brass is getting inpatient."

"You bet I am!" Brass called as the director walked over to him. The old woman stepped up next.

"Open wide please." Sophie said.

"I think not young lady!" The old woman said. "I teach law at WLVU and I know that it's illegal for you people to detain us here! Wait, is that you Sophie?" Sophie sighed in annoyance.

"Yes, it's me Beatrice."

"That's Mrs. McKay to you young lady and you call THAT proper dress for a crime scene? A Denim Jacket, a short top and jeans?! Honestly if I was your supervisor I'd fire you right now."

"My supervisor's over there." Sophie said pointing to Gil.

"I don't care what the crime team wears as long as they do there job well." Gil said.

"Look, I'll give you my DNA and fingerprints just because your where a student of mine but that's it!" Beatrice said opening her mouth allowing Sophie to take a swab, Beatrice went over to Brass who was looking at her with a bemused look on his face.

"_Man, am I glad Greg is on that Horror Movie extra case downstairs, I don't think I could handle his teasing over that incident."_Sophie thought as Andre's sister approached.

"You're Simone Remere right? I'm Sophie Danielson from the crime lab, I was told to interview you over what happened tonight."

"Oui, and to be quite honest I don't know what happened, one minute the shooting's going fine and the next Andre collapses after ingesting the food." Simone said with tears in her eyes.

"What exactly do you do here Simone?" Sophie asked.

"I work as an advisor to the announcer on French Cuisine; Andre never talked during the preparation so my job was to guide the announcer through what Andre was doing so that the audience at home knew what too, the pay's crap and to be honest I am a far better cook than Andre but everyone has a roll to fill and mine's behind the scenes."

"You rushed onto the stage to check your brother's pulse, didn't the announcer need guiding?"

"No, the cooking process was done and I usually come out of the announcer's booth to watch the audience interaction part of the show, though that got me a black eye two weeks ago." Simone explained.

"How'd that happened?" Sophie asked.

"Boris and Andre were having their usual shouting match....."

*flashback*

"I RIPPED OFF YOU!? Comparing my cooking to yours is like comparing a fine work of art to a finger painting done by a mentally challenged five year old!"

"Don't give me that shit Andre, you just don't want to admit it because you know that it will ruin your career!"

"You're just jealous that I am on national TV presenting my talents to the world whilst you are in charge of a lowly restaurant!"

It was clear at that point that the two of them where about to come to blows.

"Stop it, both of you!" Simone said stepping in between them, only for Boris to punch her to the ground.

*end flashback*

"I guess you could call it a blessing in disguise really, that incident lead to the studio getting a restraining order against Boris, not that he gives a shit!"

"What are the pacific's of that order?" Sophie asked.

"It wasn't just against me or Andre but rather the entire studio; he had to shut down one branch of his restaurant just because it was within 50 feet of the studio."

"_Ouch, the studio took that incident seriously, hey wait a sec."_ "Didn't the studio press charges?" Simone shook her head.

"No, they didn't want any bad publicity stemming from the incident, though I fail to see how reporting an incident is any worse than letting a wife beater go free."

"Boris is a wife beater?"

"He'll deny it but yes he is; I think that oaf is trying to set a world record for most restraining orders against one man or something."

"Okay, I'll take your DNA now." Simone allowed Sophie to swab her mouth and went over to Brass.

"More I learn about Boris, the more I like him as a suspect." Sophie said to Gill.

"He's just like the director really, both have motive to kill him, but we still need to find out the COD."

"Hey guys, just finished processing the set, and I found something unusual in the spice rack." Evan said walking over carrying a bag containing a seasoning container with a white powder. "Now I am a seasoning master, I am familiar with every kind of seasoning, and yet I have never seen a seasoning like this."

"Could be cocaine but who would be stupid enough to stash it in a place like this?" Gill said.

"I guess we'll know once we get to the lab." Sophie said as Brass came over, soon the director joined them.

"Here's the list you asked for!" He said showing them a printed document with eleven names on it.

"Thanks." Gill said as the director walked off after giving it to them. "Thirteen suspects, one killer."

"Two of them have motive, though I wouldn't be surprised if the others were still bitter." Evan added.

"This is going to take a while." Sophie said as the three of them left.

Author's note: Different style for this fic but I want to experiment with a more CSI TV show style as you can see, hope you enjoy.


	2. Weather Prediction Is Murder

Four hours before the death of Andre Remere, a News Segment was getting ready to start in another part of the TV studio, the news Anchors where in place with there notes in hand, the female news anchor was getting ready for the camera to move over to the weather girl, Rachel Thomas.

"And now we move onto the weather with Rachel Thomas, Rachel?" The male anchor said giving the cameraman his cue to change position, only to find the spot in front of the weather map where Rachel would normally stand vacant.

"Err; Rachel doesn't seem to want to join us right now." The male anchor said awkwardly, thankfully for him the director yelled cut.

"CUT!!!! God damn it where's Rachel? She's never no showed a news segment before!" The director yelled out in frustration.

"I'll go look for her." The female anchor offered.

"Fine but find her quickly, anything to get this damn segment out of the way! And I swear if she's putting on makeup she'll be doing pornos faster than you can "YOU'RE FIRED!"" The director replied apparently forgetting about the role of the make up artist in his frustration, ignoring him the anchor stood up and walked towards Rachel's locker room and knocked.

"Rach? Come on you know what time it is!" The anchor said, getting worried after she didn't get a response she opened the door......only to find Rachel, a tall blonde in her mid twenties with blue eyes, slumped over at the desk with a nasty head wound to the back of the head.

"Oh my god!" The anchor said before running to get a phone.

*Twenty minutes later*

Catherine and Sara entered the dressing room turned crime scene, the anchor was still there and she was crying a river of tears.

"Hi Catherine, Sara, victim's name is Rachel Thomas, 25 years old, she works as the weather girl for this news program." Detective Vega greeted looking up from his memo book. "Dave should be here in a few minutes but as you have probably noticed the traffic along the strip is really bad."

"That's okay, we'll just interview who discovered the victim in the meantime, which brings me to my next question, who discovered the victim?" Sara asked.

"Maria Addams, 22 years old, she's the co anchor for the news show, she said that she was sent here by the director to pick up the victim when she didn't show up for the taping." Vega explained motioning to the brunette.

"Sara, you interview her, get her statement, fingerprints and DNA, I'll see if there's any evidence I can collect any evidence whilst I wait for the coroner." Catherine told her colleague, Catherine entered the room and Sara went over to Maria.

"Maria, I'm Sara Sidle from the Las Vegas crime lab, can I ask you a few questions about what happened tonight?"

"We were getting ready to host the 6:00 news, me and Mike, my co anchor, were going through the news stories when it came time for the weather except she wasn't by the weather map, I offered to go look for her to keep the director from blowing his gasket and her locker room was the first place I thought to look, when I opened the door I found her like that."

"You didn't check for a pulse?"

"The thought didn't occur to me and besides I could see that she wasn't breathing so I ran back to the studio and had the director call the cops, at first he didn't believe me so I ended up dragging his fat ass to the locker room in order to show him." Maria answered.

"I HEARD THAT!" The director called over as he was giving his statement to Vega.

"How well did you know the victim?" Sara asked.

"Pretty well, she started the job a year ago after our previous weathergirl had to quit due to the fact that she was dying of cancer. As for Rachel, she was a nice girl, did her job well and put up with that obnoxious loud mouth better then I ever could." Maria said.

"That obnoxious loudmouth just happens to be the guy who writes the pay checks Maria so watch your mouth!" The director called over again.

"Has he always been like this?" Sara asked.

"You have no idea, he has more sexual harassment lawsuits on file than the population of a small country, we went through five weathergirls last year before settling on Rachel and that was because her husband operates a law firm out of Henderson so the director would've been foolish to try that with Rachel."

"Sexual harassment my ass, it was harmless flirting blown WAY out of proportion by an uptight, feminist bitch!" The director yelled.

"I assume he's referring to the first weathergirl you guys hired?" Sara asked.

"Yeah but what he doesn't seem to realize that there's a difference between harmless flirting a sexual harassment, and sniffing the girl's hair and caressing her breasts whilst she was in the locker room doesn't count as harmless flirting."

"SHE HAD NO WITNESSES TO PROVE THAT I DID THAT! She was a feminist looking for an excuse to sue a guy!" The director yelled back.

"Okay sir, seriously I'm trying to take your statement, can you please ignore Maria and keep your focus on me?" Vega said clearly getting annoyed.

"Fine, fine...."

Sara didn't pay attention to the rest of the director's sentence and turned her attention back to Maria.

"About Rachel's husband, we'll need to reach him in order to let him know of the news, do you have their home address?"

"I do but it won't do you much good, Terry, that's Rachel's husband's name, has been working overtime at the law firm in preparation for an upcoming murder trial, Rachel told me that herself, I do however have the address of the firm."

"That'll work just as well, thanks." Sara said as she jotted down the address for the firm on her notepad. "One last thing Maria, I'll need your fingerprints and DNA."

"Why's that? I've done nothing wrong." Maria asked confused.

"Its protocol Maria, since you were the first person on the scene of the murder we have to take your prints and DNA." Sara explained.

"Well, since you put it that way, go ahead and take them." Maria said with a shrug allowing Sara to collect her DNA and fingerprints. Sara turned around just in time to see Dave enter the crimescene.

"Sorry I was late, traffic was murder." Dave said apologetically. "Where's the body?"

"In the locker room, Catherine's been processing it for evidence whilst I was interviewing Maria here and knowing her she didn't touch the body." Sara explained bagging the DNA and fingerprints.

"Wouldn't even bet five bucks on whether or not she did." Dave said entering the locker room and seeing Catherine spraying blood splatter with luminal. "Hi Catherine, sorry I was late." Dave greeted making her jump.

"Hi Dave, don't worry about it Sophie and Evan where caught in traffic too and you know how eager those two are to get to the lab in time, not that I blame them." Catherine said swabbing the blood; Dave walked over to the body and started his examination.

"Rigor has set in, doesn't look like she was moved or posed, taking the liver temp now." Dave said inserting the thermometer into the correct spot, after a few minutes he removed it. "Liver temp is 80 degrees but given the fact that this room is most likely air conditioned I doubt it's accurate, based on the rigor I'd say she's been dead for a few hours now."

"She's been dead for a few hours and no one notices?" Catherine asked suspiciously.

"I can probably answer that." Maria said having overheard Catherine. "When she wasn't doing the weather Rachel spent most of her time in here sprucing herself up, it wasn't uncommon for the only time I'd see her to be right before the news starts and even then she was obsessing over her looks.

"Thanks for the insight, is it normal for the room to be this cool?" Catherine asked.

"The locker rooms yes but not the sets, same reason there's no security cameras in here." She said.

"_Great, we won't be able to use video evidence."_ Catherine thought when she spotted a white stain on a sofa. "Is it common for the stars of the show to get have sex in there locker rooms?"

"Happens sometimes, but I wouldn't exactly call the weathergirl a star." Maria said as Catherine swabbed the seaman.

"_She's got a point there."_

"Has Rachel's husband ever been to the studio?" Sara asked.

"A couple of times but that was mostly to pick up Rachel when her car was out of gas." Maria said. "Can I go?"

"Sure, if you think of anything else give us a call." Sara said giving Maria her card.

"Thanks." She said leaving the crime scene.

"Are you done here Dave?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah I am, give the word and I'll have the body taken to the morgue." Dave said putting his equipment away.

"Go for it, we have a murder weapon to search for anyway." Sara said and Dave motioned for the coroner team to come in and take the body away, loading the body onto the stretcher the team put it in the bodybag and took it to the coroner's van. Once they where gone Sara told Catherine what she had learned from Maria.

"We'll head down to the firm once the autopsy is complete, for now let's search the desk." Catherine instructed Sara as she swabbed a blood pool that was gathered around Rachel's forehead, Sara spotted something unusual on a particular hair dryer.

"Is that blood on that hairdryer?" Sara said spraying the liquid with luminal, it only confirmed her suspicions. "Catherine, we have a murder weapon, and a weird one at that." Sara said showing the hairdryer with the blood to Catherine.

"This wins my award for most original murder weapon ever." Catherine said as Sara bagged it. "Can't really see much else here, you ready to head back to the lab?" Catherine asked, however Catherine's reply was cut off by a male voice from outside.

"What do you mean I can't cross the tape? I'm here to pick up my wife!" The voice argued, the two women exchanged knowing looks.

"Well, he's just saved us a trip to Henderson." Catherine said as the two women left the locker room and saw a young man with slick black hair and blue eyes wearing a nice suit at the crime scene tape.

"Terrance Thomas?" Catherine asked approaching the man.

"Attorney at law, what can I do for you?" Terry said in response.

"I'm Catherine Willows and this is Sara Sidle, we're with the Las Vegas crime lab, are you here about your wife?" Catherine asked.

"Yes, I figured I'd surprise her after the news program ended, why is something wrong?" Terry asked.

"Terry, there's no easy way to say this, Rachel was murdered this evening."

"No, you can't be right.....you just.,,,," One look into Catherine's eyes told him that she was telling the truth. "Oh god, what will I tell my kids?!"

"My advice to you is to let them down easy, my daughter lost her father when she was young and that was the approach I took." Catherine told him.

"That might be good advice, especially since you have experience dealing with this sought of thing." Terry said.

"Terry, we are going to need a DNA sample." Terry blinked in surprise.

"What for and besides as a lawyer I know my rights."

"Terry we found seaman on the couch inside Rachel's locker room, it's to rule out the possibility of you two having sex in there if that wasn't the case." Catherine explained.

"Oh, well I suppose I can give you my DNA in that case." Terry said allowing Catherine to swab his mouth. "Don't be surprised if it is my seaman in there, one of Rachel's biggest turn ons was sex in public, even semi public as is the case here."

"When was the last time you two got intimate in there?"

"I think it was two nights ago, we did it as a celebration for Rachel's recent pay rise." Terry explained.

"Did she have any enemies?"

"Look no further than the director of the news program, she was the only one to stand up to that pervert and that was thanks to my job as a lawyer."

"Thank you for you time Terry, if you think of anything else give us a call." Catherine said giving him her card.

"Thanks, I will, I'd better go inform the in laws, I'm probably the only guy in the world that get's along with them." Terry said walking off. Vega walked up to them.

"You want me to do a background check on the director?"

"Do it, we have evidence to get to the lab in the meantime."Catherine told him as she and Sara left the crimescene and entered the van.


	3. The Shot Heard By No One

Two and a half hours before Andre Remere's death the main entrance to the TV Studio was a far cry from the rest of the building, whilst the rest of the building was bustling with activity the main entrance was pretty quiet with the only person who was there being the receptionist, Mary Walters, that didn't last though as a young man with blonde hair in dreadlocks and blue eyes wearing a delivery man uniform, carrying a rather large package walked in.

"SPECIAL DELIVERY!" The young man yelled setting the heavy package down waiting for someone to come to pick it up. "Hello? There's a package here." He called again, noticing the receptionist desk he walked up to it expecting to see someone there. "Hey, where's the guy that's in charge of this place?" Upon further inspection he saw Mary, a woman in her mid twenties with long blonde hair, slumped on the desk. _"Asleep on the job and no one around to yell at her, what I wouldn't give for your job lady."_ He thought nudging her head in an attempt to wake her up, however nothing happened and the young man grew worried, he looked behind the woman's head and fell over in shock when he saw a single bullet wound to the back of the head.

*Half an Hour Later*

Warrick and Nick entered the crime scene with their gloves on and their crime scene kits in hand, the once quiet main entrance was now bustling with activity thanks to the death of the receptionist, the delivery boy was giving his statement to the first officer on the scene and was quite shaken up by the discovery of the body, once the officer got his statement he walked over to the CSIS.

"Hey guys, the victim's is called Mary Walters, 26 years old works as the receptionist for the TV studio. Coroner should be here soon but the traffic's really bad down the strip as you undoubtedly know." The officer told him.

"We passed Dave on the way out of the precinct, he shouldn't be more than a few minutes at the most; poor guy didn't get a chance to rest after he was done at Catherine and Sara's crime scene." Warrick commented as he approached the scene. "Who discovered the victim?"

"Zach Roberts, 19 years old, he was delivering a package to the props department when he discovered the victim." He said pointing to the man.

"I'll talk to him, Warrick you process the rest of the crime scene whilst we wait for the coroner." Nick said walking over to the delivery man.

"Zach Roberts? I'm Nick Stokes from the Las Vegas Crime Lab; can you tell me what happened?"

"Sure I guess, I was sent here by the delivery company I work for to deliver that package to the props department at this TV studio." Zach replied pointing to the package he had carried in. "There was no one around and it's my first day on the job so I didn't know my way around the studio so I went to the receptionist's desk hoping that whoever was behind the desk could point me in the right direction, I thought she was asleep at first until I saw that bullet wound."

"What happened next?"

"What do you think? I panicked man, I had never seen a real dead body before, closest I get are horror flicks, old school ones like Friday The 13th and Halloween not the new stuff, once I pulled myself together I got out my cell phone and dialled 911." Zach explained.

"Does your delivery company make regular deliveries here?"

"Yeah, the studio orders its props through the company due to the fact that the company has a good rep when it comes to handling packages, speaking of which, can I go? I still need to get the package to the props department." Zach asked.

"Sure thing but I'll need your DNA and fingerprints first."

"Why? I've never even been to the studio before today." Zach asked confused.

"It's nothing personal Zach, its just protocol that I get the DNA and fingerprints from the person who discovered the body." Nick explained, shrugging his shoulders Zach allowed Nick to take his DNA and fingerprints. "As a special treat I'll get someone to show you the way to the props department for being so cooperative."

"Really? Ah thanks man, you have any idea how big this place is?" Zach thanked him picking up the package.

"Are you going to be okay carrying that thing? It looks pretty heavy?" Nick asked.

"Don't worry, this thing's lighter than it looks, the props department usually just order plastic replacers of real things anyway, hence why it's called props." Zach said with a smile. "Not saying it isn't heavy but I'll make do."

"If you say so, can someone get him to the props department?" Nick called to the crowd that had gathered, a young woman raised her hand and took Zach to the department, Nick joined Warrick as he processed the desk.

"Find anything?" Nick asked.

"Not much aside from some blood spatter and GSR near the printer, I'd process the area near the body but I can't since Dave hasn't arrived yet." Warrick said showing Nick the evidence bags containing the GSR and the blood swab.

"Well if the GSR'S any indication Mary was definitely killed here, based on Zach's statement I can safely say that there was no one else here aside from Mary and her killer so I doubt anyone herd a gunshot." Nick observed.

"And I doubt they would've if they where close enough, in a crowded place like this it's unlikely that the gunshot would've gone unnoticed so it would make sense for the killer to use a silencer." Warrick added before something caught his attention, that "something" being a bullet lodged in the side of the desk. "It seems the killer missed a shot." Warrick said using the tweezers to remove the bullet.

"Good catch and here's Dave just in time." Nick said as the assistant coroner entered the building.

"Hi guys, sorry I was late but if you think traffic in general was bad try traffic whilst being stuck behind a car driven by an old lady." Dave said coming behind the desk.

"I can only imagine man; you want us to leave you to your work so you can have some room to work?" Nick offered.

"Sure, if you could get behind the desk that'll be great." Nick and Warrick complied allowing Dave to do his work.

"Liver temp is 79 degrees." Dave said. "There isn't any rigor though so I'd put time of death around three hours ago."

"So she died around 3pm, how did anyone not notice until Zach arrived?" Nick wondered.

"I can answer that." A security guard who had been outside the studio answered. "Out of all the sections of the building the main entrance is quietist as most of the staff the work here arrive around 8:00am."

"So no one would've noticed the murder?" The guard shook his head; Nick noticed a security camera pointed at the reception desk. "We're going to need footage from that camera."

"Sure, any pacific time?"

"We will need footage from between 3:00pm and 4:00pm, if possible." Nick told him.

"I'll go get the tapes now." The guard said walking off.

"Anything else you'd like to add Dave?" Warrick asked.

"It doesn't look like she was moved or posed so she was probably working on something when the killer killed her." Dave observed noticing the computer screen was on.

"Can you see what's on the screen?" Nick asked.

"Look's like a word document but her head's blocking the text, I can see the page number and its 20 pages long." Dave said. "It's probably just a report, though but I'll let you two be the judge once I move the body."

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the victim?" Warrick asked.

"Not without getting her to autopsy." Dave answered.

"In that case, go ahead. We'll take it from here." Dave nodded and had the coroner team move the body.

"See you back at the lab." Dave called transporting the body; Warrick went behind the desk again and looked at the document.

"Judging by your expression, that's no report is it?" Nick asked.

"Can't tell, the head was leaning on the keyboard inadvertently pressing the "X" key which is why there's twenty pages, there'd probably be more if we hadn't arrived when we did."

"It might be worth something so put it on a USB, we'll read the contents back at the lab once we get rid of the XS." Nick instructed and Warrick complied saving the document to the USB drive he had.

"Okay guys, here's the tapes." The security guard walking over with the tapes, Warrick took them and thanked the guard.

"Did you know Mary?" Nick asked.

"About as well as I know some of the actors that work on the shows the studios produce which to put it bluntly isn't very well at all, why?"

"Did you know if she had a spouse?" Warrick asked.

"Nah, I might not have known her that well but I've overheard enough conversations between her and her friend on the cleaning staff to know that she's single as her friend's always telling her to get a boyfriend." He explained.

"She ever mentioned any family members living nearby?" Nick asked.

"Let me think....yeah I overheard her mention that her mom is living in a retirement home near her apartment in the residential area." He answered.

"You know the name of the home?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, my dad lives at the same place, Peaceful Meadows Retirement Home, it's about twenty minutes away from Henderson. Why do you ask?"

"We'll have to inform her of her daughter's passing." Nick answered.

"Ah I see, is that everything?" The security guard asked.

"Yeah thanks." The guard walked off, after bagging the tapes and the USB Nick turned to Warrick.

"Well I think that's everything that we can collect here." Nick said taking a final look around the desk to be sure, it was then that a blood pool on the floor caught his attention.

"Hello, looks like someone else spilled some blood." Nick said swabbing it. "Okay, that's definitely everything I can see, let's get the evidence to the lab and then we'll head down to Peaceful Meadows." Nick said though he wasn't exactly looking forward to telling the victim's mother of her death.

"Sounds good, let's head out." Warrick said as he and Nick left the crime scene.


	4. Murder Immitates Art

One hour before Andre Remere's death and one flour bellow the set of "What's Cooking" a made for TV horror flick was being filmed, the film in question was called "Camp Death" and in all honesty it was a massive rip off of the first Friday the 13th film, the difference? Camp Death was PG-13, yeah that's all the difference there was.

The crew where in the middle of filming a scene where the killer in the film was stalking a young woman near the lake, the script called for the woman to trip and fall allowing the killer to catch up with her, however her brother, played by an extra by the name of Danny Reynolds, would attack the killer before he had a chance to the kill the woman only to be killed himself, the scene went along fine right up until the woman tripped, the killed raised his axe above his head anticipating Danny's arrival, however Danny never showed up.

"CUT!!!!!" Yelled the director who looked like he was going to pull his hair out (what was left of it anyway). "Marisol, were the hell is your brother?" The young woman, an attractive brunette who could easily pass for a Spanish woman thanks to her tan, got up equally annoyed.

"I don't know, and it's not like him to not show up for a scene especially one he saw as his big break." Marisol replied, before she could add anything she spotted something odd behind one of the fake bushes, blood to be exact.

"Err, Zach?" Marisol called. "Was there supposed to be a off screen death in this scene?" Marisol asked.

"No, that's the next scene, why?" The director asked, she didn't answer due to her growing concern and looked behind the fake bush, seconds later she let out a horrified scream.

*half an hour later*

Greg arrived at the scene with his gloves on and his crime scene kit in hand, he looked around the scene and saw Marisol crying into the killer's (the movie killer), who was now without his mask, shoulder and everyone was on edge, Greg could understand why though based on the report.

"Hi Greg, hope you have a strong stomach as your going to need in." Detective Michael Deben, a recent transfer from the Los Angeles Police Department who had joined two weeks ago, approached, he had short black hair, a nice tan and blue eyes.

"This isn't my first grizzly crime scene Mike but thanks for the heads up." Greg said. "Do we have an ID on the victim?"

"Danny Reynolds, 18 years old, small time actor looking to make it into the big time." Michael answered before pointing to Marisol. "She discovered the victim, her name's Marisol Reynolds, 22 years old, older sister of Danny and she's also an actress but like her brother she's not that well known as an actress."

"Were they filming something here?" Greg asked noticing the cameracrew.

"PG-13 made for TV horror film called "Camp Death", it was set to debut next Friday but it's been delayed due to obvious reasons." Mike told him. "Also Dave has been stuck in traffic for the third time tonight so you'd better interview Marisol in the meantime."

"Thanks, if you see Dave let me know." Greg said before walking over to Marisol.

"Marisol Reynolds? I'm Greg Sanders, Las Vegas Crime Lab; can I talk to you about what happened tonight?"

"Of course, I'll do anything to help catch my brother's killer."

"_At least she's willing to cooperate."_ Greg thought. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I was filming a scene with Drake here." She said motioning to the man was comforting her. "The script called for me to run from Drake, who was playing the killer in the film, only to trip and fall over, Drake would go to decapitate me, of screen due to the rating of course, but Danny, playing my character's brother, would attack Drake and fend him off long enough for me to run, only to be killed himself."

"Which I would've if the scene had gone as planned but he never showed up." Drake, a tall bald man with blue eyes and a beard, said.

"What was Danny's roll in the film?" Greg asked.

"It was a minor one, up until his death he was just the token comedy character hell he wasn't eben going to be listed in the credits, but he saw this film as his big break." Marisol said. "Then again so did I, we're both talented actors, though I'm better at the dramatics than he is, so it was just a matter of time before we got our big break."

"Obviously that wasn't the case though." Drake said shaking his head. "I'll miss him, good kid, great actor; he was going places you know?"

"I can imagine, did Danny have any enemies?"

"Some jealous actors looking to play the same part that Danny ended up playing but other than that no one."

"Okay, Marisol I know this is tough for you but I need your fingerprints and DNA." Greg told her.

"Can't you see she's in mourning? She just lost her brother and you want her DNA and fingerprints?!" Drake said angrily.

"Sir, will you please calm down and let me explain? Marisol it's protocol that I take the fingerprints and DNA from the person who discovered the victim."

"Fine, go ahead." Marisol said in between sobs, Greg took the DNA swab and fingerprints, he left Marisol to mourn the loss of her brother and looked at his watch.

"_Where's Dave? The traffic isn't as bad as it was a few hours ago so he couldn't of been caught in traffic."_ Greg thought running a hand through his hair. "_Ah screw it; I'll start processing the scene whilst I wait for him."_ Greg said walking behind the fake bush and despite his experience as a CSI he couldn't help but wince.

Danny, or rather what was left of him, was a tall man with shoulder length wavy hair and green eyes, however in the state that he was in the cause of death was obvious, his limbs had been removed and there was an axe in his head, his eyes where still open showing an expression of pure terror.

"_Why is it that I suddenly get the feeling that this is ripped straight of a horror movie?"_ Greg thought shaking his head sadly. _"So young, his life was in front of him, only for it to be stolen in such a gruesome manor. if this is a suicide then I'm writing a article for the next forensics journal on this case."_ Greg's thoughts where interrupted by Dave's arrival.

"Hi Greg, sorry I was late but there was another death upstairs and I was told by Al to attend that one first."

"_ANOTHER ONE!?" _Greg thought in disbelief. "I take it Sophie, Gil and Evan took that case since they where the only ones available for it?"

"Yeah, it's a strange one too, ever herd of Andre Remere?"

"He's the TV chef right? I saw his show a couple of times but couldn't get into it."

"He dropped dead, on live TV after ingesting the food he had been preparing throughout the show." Dave told him.

"You're right, that is strange but with those three on the case they should be able to figure it out." Greg said. "In the meantime my crimscene's quite a doozy it's self." Greg said pointing to Danny's body, Dave whistled.

"This is probably the most gruesome death I've seen so far, better get to work." Dave said bending down, he took the liver temp and raised an eyebrow. "It's at Ambient, which usually means it can't go down any further."

"Based on that, what's the time of death?"

"I'd say yesterday, at about 5pm, want me to get him to autopsy."

"Sure, go for it." Greg told him and Dave motioned the rest of the coroner team over. _"He's been dead since yesterday and no one notices until know? What's worse is that based on the lack of blood I'd say this is a body dump meaning there's a primary crime scene somewhere."_ Greg rubbed his chin in thought as the coroner team took the body away. _"Maybe Marisol can fill me in on Danny's personal life." _Greg stood up but an out of place light blue fibre caught his attention, picking it up with the tweezers and bagging it he walked over to Marisol.

"Marisol, I have a few more questions if you don't mind?"

"Go ahead." She replied.

"The assistant coroner said that he died yesterday, do you too share an apartment or something?" Marisol shook her head.

"No, in fact we live on opposite sides of town, our only communication is through e-mail, phone calls and when we conveniently try out for rolls in the same movie."

"When you did communicate with him did he mention that someone wanted him dead?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"I can't speak too much about it but the lack of blood suggests that this is a body dump."

"Who'd be stupid enough to dump a body in a place like this though?" Drake chimed in.

"Maybe they wanted to send a message to Marisol, maybe even the director." Another actress, a young woman with short amber hair and blue eyes said walking up.

"And you are?"

"Marie Davis, like Danny I was playing a minor role in the film, as the first victim of the killer to be exact." Marie introduced herself. 

"Did you know Danny?"

"Knew him? He was my ex-boyfriend."

"That is until you cheated on him Marie." Marisol said with a short growl.

"Oh come on! I wasn't cheating, I was drunk and flirting with the director of the film I was in at the time."

"That's not what Danny told me, he said that you where sober, and you where more than just flirting with him."

"Oh so you're going to trust a recovering drug addict's word over mine?" Greg's ear pricked up when he heard that part.

"_Drug addict huh? It sounds like she's pointed me in the right direction."_ "Ladies I hate to interrupt but what can you tell me about Danny's drug addiction." Greg asked

"Do I have too? I mean I don't want to speak ill of the dead, unlike SOME people." Marisol asked.

"That's the thing, I think any of Danny's past drug dealers maybe behind this."

"Makes sense, Danny wasn't into the hardcore drugs like Cocaine and Heroine but towards the end of it he was experimenting in Ice." Marisol said. "That's when we intervened, I feared it'd be a matter of time before he moved on to the more hardcore stuff."

"Who are you talking about when referring to "we"?"

"It was me, Marie, who was still dating him at the time, and Drake." Marisol replied.

"What happened after that?"

"He went to rehab and made amends with his dealers and whoever else he had harmed, I accompanied him to the meth dealer's place in case things turned nasty, thankfully it didn't."

"Do you have a name for the dealer?"

"Ice Cold, though he's now on death row for rape and murder"

"_Damn, a dead end already."_ Greg thought annoyed. "Was there anyone else?"

"No, sorry I couldn't be more help." She said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it; if you think of anything else give me a call." He said giving Marisol his card, she took it and walked off.

"_No suspects, a secondary crime scene and a body with its arms and legs missing, this will be a good story to tell the grand kids." _Greg thought leaving the crime scene so he could go back to the lab.


	5. Worlds Apart

Sophie looked outside the window of the van towards the restaurant that they had pulled up to, it was the day after the deaths at the studio and, with the day shift too busy with their own cases to assist, the cases had been left as the CSIS had left them, the evidence was dropped off last night and they where still waiting for the autopsy results but given the amount of dead bodies that Al had to do autopsies on it was going to take a while so they decided to start checking out there possible suspects starting with the first chef to audition, Yoshimori Zhao, a Japanese chef who specialized in Sushi.

"So, you guys ready to go in?" She asked turning to Evan and Gil, Gil was driving the van and Evan was in the backseat.

"Ready when you are." Evan said and Gill nodded, the three CSIS stood up and left the van and entered the restaurant, it was a small but comfy place with a distinct Japanese feel. "Nice place, never been to found of Sushi but this is certainly a nice place."

"Join the club." Brass said entering the restaurant, a young Japanese woman in a Kimono walked up to them.

"Hi, welcome to Zhao's sushi, table for four?" She said with a smile.

"Actually no, we need to speak to the owner." Brass said as he, Sophie, Evan and Gil got there badges out. The young waitress's smile disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

"Err; I'll go get him immediately." The waitress said walking off, a few minutes later she reappeared with a short, balding Japanese man in his sixties wearing a business suit.

"I am Yoshimori Zhao, proprietor and top chef at this restaurant, how may I serve the Las Vegas Police Department?" Yoshimori asked.

"Can we speak somewhere a bit more private, we don't want to alarm your customers?" Gil asked.

"Of course, follow me." Yoshimori lead them to his office which like the rest of the restaurant was small but comfy with a distinct Japanese feel.

"Zhao san, I am Gil Grissom this is Sophie Danielson, Evan Mitchell and James Brass, we're with the Las Vegas Police department investigating a homicide." The mention of the word "homicide" caused Yoshimori's eyebrows raised in a mixture of shock and surprise obviously not expecting this.

"Did you say Homicide? How ghastly, I'll do anything I can to assist in the investigation but I must ask how does this involve me?"

"The victim was a man who beat you in an audition for that "What's Cooking?" show, a man by the name of Andre Remere." Sophie explained.

"Andre is dead? A terrible shame, he was a fine cook and deserving of the spot he beat me for."

"The director said that the other auditions weren't too happy about the choice, you included." Evan added.

"I was disappointed yes but I am not a man who likes to hold grudges, and besides I am a pacifist, the only violence I get involved in is when I am preparing the sushi which only involves me taking a knife to a raw fish." Yoshimori explained. "Though if you want to look for suspects try the director, he didn't exactly get along with Andre."

"We gathered that when we talked to him." James said.

"And you maybe a pacifist Zhao san but we still need your fingerprints to match to a suspected murder weapon." Sophie said referring to a set of fingerprints Evan found on the seasoning container in the layout room.

"Like I said I'll do anything to assist in the investigation." Yoshimori said allowing Sophie to take his fingerprints.

"Thank you for your cooperation, if you think of anything else give us a call." James said giving him his card.

"Of course, it'll be my pleasure." Yoshimori said as the three CSIS and the homicide detective left the room.

"I don't think he did it." Sophie said to her colleagues. "He said it himself that he's a pacifist."

"True, but we'll need to match his fingerprints to the set that Evan found on the seasoning container." Gill said, just then Evan's pager went off.

"And on that note the autopsy's complete." Evan said. "So, are we heading back to the lab?"

"Naturally, once we find out how Andre died we can have a better understanding of what happened." Gill said getting in the van, they drove back to the lab and listened to a CD of one of Evan's band's performances on the way over, they arrived back at the lab and went to autopsy.

"Ah, you're here." Al said when he saw them. "I'll start with what your probably wondering, no, the death wasn't natural."

"So it's definitely a homicide then?" Sophie asked.

"Yes but I can't determine the cause of death at this point, though I have a theory."

"And that theory is?" Gill asked.

"Cyanide poisoning, it fits the manner of death and crumbled cyanide could've easily been swapped with one of the seasonings. But here's the thing, we need someone with the genetic quirk that allows the person who has it to smell cyanide, luckily we have someone in the lab that has it, though I don't think Sophie will like this."

"Why's that?" Sophie asked, the doors opened and David Hodges walked in. "PLEASE tell me Hodges doesn't have the genetic quirk."

"It's nice to see you too Sophie." Hodges said as he smelled the stomach contents. "Yep, there's cyanide in there all right."

"That confirms it; cause of death is cyanide poisoning." Al said, Evan suddenly got a brainstorm,

"I'll be back in a second." Evan said leaving the autopsy room, a few minutes later Evan entered the room with the seasoning container in his gloved hands.

"Hodges, can you smell the contents of this container? We think it's the murder weapon." Evan asked opening it; Hodges complied and smelled the contents.

"That's cyanide all right; I'd recognise the smell of bitter almonds anywhere." Hodges said leaving the room.

"So now we have cause of death AND a murder weapon, all thanks to the biggest asshole in Las Vegas." Sophie said.

"But what I don't get is, why kill him in this manner? There's much easier ways to kill people. Not to mention the fact that it happened on national TV." Evan said confused.

"Maybe your killer had a flair for the theatrics, which reminds me here's Andre's DNA and fingerprints." Al said giving Gill the DNA and fingerprints.

"Thanks, is there anything else?" Gill asked.

"Other than the fact that one of my favourite TV chefs is in my autopsy room, no there isn't." Al said taking a picture for his scrapbook before giving the three CSIS there cue to leave autopsy, once they did Gill's pager went off.

"Fingerprint results are in, none of the fingerprints from the audience and crew members match the fingerprints on the seasoning container."

"Still doesn't rule out the director or Boris, they could've paid someone to poison Andre." Sophie said. "Which reminds me, I've got to get Yoshimori's fingerprints to Mandy." Sophie said walking off; she arrived at the fingerprints lab a few minutes later.

"Hi Sophie, please tell me you don't have more evidence for me?" Mandy asked.

"No such luck, these prints are from one of the auditions/suspects." Sophie said handing Mandy the fingerprints. "Can you compare it with the prints Evan lifted off the seasoning container?"

"Sure thing." Mandy said entering the prints into the computer and comparing them to the seasoning container prints, she frowned when she saw the results. "Sorry Sophie but I've already eliminated one of your suspects, the prints don't match."

"Don't worry; I didn't think it was him anyway." Sophie shrugged leaving the fingerprints lab and heading to the break room where Evan and Gill where.

"Any luck with Yoshimori's prints?" Evan asked.

"Yeah, the bad kind, Yoshimori didn't handle that seasoning container." Sophie said sitting down.

"There are still other suspects to consider though so it's not like we'll have to close this case just yet." Evan added. "Which reminds me, has Brass tracked down the address of another restaurant yet?"

"He's working on it." Gill said, just then Brass entered the break room.

"I've managed to track down another restaurant, Kangaroo Joe's Down Under Barbie, and Kangaroo Joe is another one of the auditions."

"Did you say Kangaroo Joe? I took my girlfriend there on a date once, nice place, and even better food." Evan said recognising the name.

"Will you be able to give us the directions then?" Gill asked.

"Sure, I still go there on occasion." Evan replied. The three CSIS stood up and followed the Homicide captain to the van with Evan driving this time, he drove the CSIS to the restaurant and they got out, it was a fairly large restaurant with an obvious Australian theme, what was also obvious was the fact that it was a kid's restaurant.

"You took your girlfriend on a date to a kid's restaurant?" Sophie asked smiling at the slightly older CSI.

"The oven was broken, her mom's pizzeria was being fumed for bugs and we decided to just drive around until we found a restaurant, she wouldn't have cared if we ended up at Hooters." The other CSIS (and Brass) gave him a funny look. "She's open minded when it comes to restaurants, not all women hate Hooters due to the fact that the waitresses wear short tops.

"If you say so, shall we go in?" They nodded in response and entered the restaurant, it was even bigger on the inside and there were kids everywhere, a young woman walked up to them.

"G'day, table for....oh hi Evan, it's been a while since you where last here." She greeted.

"Hi Sally, and no we're not here to eat, we need to speak with the manager." Evan said.

"Why? Do you need to file a complaint or....?"

"Sally right? It's police business." Sophie said showing Sally her badge and the other CSIS did likewise.

"Oh, I'll go get him right away." Sally walked off, a few minutes later she reappeared with a tall man with brown hair, blue eyes and he was wearing a crocodile Dundee outfit.

"Hi mates, what can I do for the LVPD?" The man said in an obviously fake Australian accent.

"Are you Kangaroo Joe?" The man nodded in response to Gill's question. "Can we speak about this in private?"

"Sure I guess, follow me." Kangaroo Joe led them to the office which was decorated with Australian memorabilia. "What can I do for you?"

"Where were you yesterday around midnight?" Sophie asked.

"I was at home sleeping, why do you ask Shella?" Joe said taking a sip of coffee.

"First, my name's Sophie, second this is a homicide investigation." Joe spat out the coffee in shock when she finished her sentence.

"Did you say homicide?" Joe, having dropped the accent, asked. Brass nodded. "My god, what happened, who....?"

"It was an old friend of yours by the name Andre Remere." Evan sad knowing what we was going to ask.

"Did you say Andre?! I heard something about a dead TV chef on the radio but I no idea." Joe said.

"Yes, he is dead, and the director has pointed at you and the rest of the auditions as possible suspects." Brass said.

"Do you believe what that guy said?"

"We're just following leads." Evan said.

"Well mate, he's sent you barking up the wrong tree, Andre may of won that audition but Mike, that's the director's name, didn't like him, not one bit, he only put up with Mr. Perfectionist of the century because he was marketable and he was a great cook, not saying I'm not a great cook but you get the idea, and besides rumour has it that Andre had a little help from his sister"

"Simone? What do you mean by....OH!" Sophie said realizing what he meant.

"Of course, neither of the siblings will confirm it, even if one of them is dead but the rumour going around is that Simone screwed the director to get him to sign Andre."

"Are you sure that's just not a rumour born out of jealousy?" Brass asked.

"Why would I be jealous? Sure my face isn't on TV but business is booming for this restaurant so I'm still making money, I suppose the director told you that none of the other chefs where marketable right?"

"Yeah why do you ask?" Sophie asked.

"Because it's a bunch of bullshit, that Sushi chef's presentation was out of this world, me? I'm called the Steve Irwin of restaurants for good reason."

"You wrestle crocodiles whilst you're cooking?" Brass asked.

"If only I had a nickel for every time someone made that joke." Joe said shaking his head. "No I imitated some of his mannerisms during my presentation, even that guy from New York, Boris, he was arguably that best chef among the auditions and his New York temper made for a funny audition."

"So the director lied?" Evan asked.

"You got it."

"Thanks for the info but we need your fingerprints for comparison." Evan said.

"If it'll clear my name than go for it." Evan took the fingerprints and they left the office, on the way out Sophie spotted the director.

"Hey guys, look who's decided to show up." Sophie said motioning to the director who was eating alone, they walked over to him.

"Eating alone tonight?" Gill asked, the director looked up and frowned.

"You guys again? What are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about checking up on a possible suspect, who you pointed us towards." Brass said.

"Oh in that case, keep up the good work, maybe you'll catch the killer."

"We're working on that, in the meantime Kangaroo Joe said some interesting things about you, like Simone screwing you so Andre could appear on the show." Sophie said.

"And that's the end of that conversation, the next time we talk my lawyer will be present."

"One more thing, what are you doing here anyway, I thought you had a press release to do?" Brass asked.

"Scouting out a new TV chef, hey with me it's always business first, especially with a prick like Andre." The director said forgetting momentarily that he was in a kid's restaurant. "And besides I've done the press release, my secretaries' proof reading it as we speak."

"You work pretty fast." Sophie commented.

"Lady, in this line of work it's either work fast or fall behind, I prefer to go with the former option." The director said. "Now are you done or am I going to have to call my lawyer?"

"We're done but we will speak again." Gill said as he led the CSIS out.

"I like the director more as a suspect every time we meet him." Evan commented.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Evan, we still have Joe's prints to compare and the 11 other suspects to check out, including Boris." Gill said as they entered the van and drove back to the lab.


	6. Not What It Seems

Sara and Catherine entered the lab passing Evan, Sophie and Gill on their way in as the young criminologists and their supervisor discussed their case in low voices, yesterday had been pretty hectic for the crime lab due to the sheer amount of cases that had popped up in the TV studio and as a result the Night Shift Lab Rats where pulling double shifts so that they could get their work done with a minimal of fuss, obviously it wasn't good for their health to be working such long hours but for the most part they weren't complaining.

And it was a similar story this evening, the obviously tired lab rats where hard at work processing the evidence from the four cases that had developed last night, Catherine got a page and she looked at it, the DNA results where in.

"Time we paid Wendy a visit." Catherine said to her partner in crime putting away the pager as she did.

"That sounds good to me." Sara said in reply and the two women maid their way to the DNA lab where Wendy was working as the day shift DNA Tech Rachel Evers was getting ready to head home, the day shift tech greeted the CSIS with a friendly nod before leaving and Wendy looked up.

"Hi guys, I've been working on the samples you gave me all night and it paid off." Wendy said with a tired yawn.

"So what have you got for us?" Catherine asked.

"I'll start with the blood, which belonged to Rachel, a little thing I was able to learn when I dug up her Juvie Record, she served two months to Juvenile Hall for petty larceny when she was Fourteen, thankfully her DNA is still in the system, the female seamen you found on the couch also matched the sample from her record, however the male half of the seamen didn't belong to the husband and that could mean one of two things; she was having an affair or she was sexually assaulted prior to her murder." Wendy told them handing the DNA results to them.

"Thanks, can you run the male seamen through CODIS, see if we can get a match?" Catherine asked and Wendy shook her head.

"I was about to bring that up actually, I ran the seamen through CODIS after it was revealed that the seamen wasn't Terry's, there where no hits in CODIS or AFIS I'm afraid." Wendy said.

"Thanks anyway Wendy, you've been a big help." Sara said.

"Actually there's one more thing; the blood sample you collected off the floor didn't match Rachel's DNA, in fact the DNA was male, it matched the male seamen you found however but without a DNA sample from any suspects that won't help just yet." Wendy said with a sigh, Catherine's pager went off again and she checked it, the autopsy was complete.

"Thanks for your help Wendy; we've got to pay Al a visit." Catherine said as she left the lab with Sara following her, Wendy returned to her work breathing a sigh of relief due to some of the results she had to get being retrieved; Sara and Catherine arrived at the Morgue where Al was putting Andre Remere's body in the freezer.

"Hi Catherine, hi Sara, I know what your thinking and no, the head wound was not the cause of death, the wound was inflicted para mortem but it didn't have an effect on the COD." Al said walking over to the autopsy table were the body of Rachel Thomas lain.

"So what was the cause of death?" Catherine asked.

"Asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, a found several fibres around the neck and the injury is consistent with this method of attack, whatever the murder weapon was it was wrapped tightly around the victim's neck and was pulled tighter until she stopped breathing snapping her neck in the process, the head wound was likely an attempt to confuse the cause of death. Whoever did this did it for personal reasons and it also seems to be a two man job."

"Did you run the rape kit?" Sara asked.

"Yes and the results are consistent with her being raped twice just before they started strangling her; I was only able to retrieve one seamen sample so it's safe to say that one of the perps used a condom." Al said handing the seamen sample to Catherine. "I've already sent the fibres to trace and with any luck Dave will help you identify the murder weapon."

"Thanks Al, anything else?" Sara asked.

"Yes actually, it seems that she was pregnant. Unfortunately the baby died with her." Al said.

"That could mean that Terry and Rachel where expecting another kid." Sara said.

"Or Rachel was having an affair with someone who was married and they wanted to silence her and the baby." Catherine added. "What can you tell us about the child?"

"It was female, in the early stages of development and it died due to starvation, when her mother died the foetus didn't have anything to sustain it's self with and died a few minutes later." Al explained. "It was big enough and old enough for this to count as a double homicide however so you ladies have two things to arrest whoever did this with."

"Do you have a DNA sample from the fetus?" Catherine asked.

"I've got a sample of the child's blood, are you planning on comparing it to the husband's DNA?" Al asked though he already knew the answer.

"Pretty much, if it is his child it could eliminate him as a suspect." Sara said as Al handed her the blood sample.

"Apart from her pregnancy I didn't see much off note, the toxx report turned up some anti depressants in her bloodstream though that didn't have an effect of the COD, I also noticed two old wounds on the wrists consistent with a suicide attempt by slitting the wrist but the wounds are months old, maybe even older than that." Al replied. "Also the head wound appears to have been caused by a fist with a ring on the ring finger, if this was a case of someone who was in an affair with Rachel wanting to keep it secret then he got in on the action so to speak."

"Is that all?" Sara asked.

"Yes that's everything, her parents are coming round to identify the body a bit later on, in the meantime here's her DNA and Fingerprints sample." Al said handing them the fingerprints and DNA samples. They took the samples and left the room to be greeted by detective Vega.

"Hey guys, I did the background check as requested, it seems consistent with what Marie told you back at the studio, the director has five sexual harassments lawsuits on file none of which saw the light of day in court, thanks to the efforts off his lawyer, our old friend Elaine Swan, I talked to her on the phone and she said that the allegations towards her client where fruitless as there was little evidence for the lawsuit to see the light of day and the judge agreed." Vega explained. "Did you learn anything from the coroner?"

"A couple of things, the cause of death wasn't Blunt Force Trauma as originally suspected, she was strangled with the head wound being inflicted just prior to death, the head wound was caused by a fist with a ring on the ring finger, she was raped prior to the strangulation and that she was pregnant, unfortunately the baby died with her." Catherine explained.

"But that does open the door on a number of possible suspects, a co-worker she was having an affair with, Terry after finding out the kid wasn't his, speaking of which we're heading down to DNA to see about comparing the foetus's blood sample with Terry's DNA sample." Sara added.

"Sounds good, I'll be at my desk if you need me." Vega said walking off, Sara and Catherine walked back to the DNA lab passing Greg on his way out off the Trace Analyses lab, they entered the DNA lab and found Wendy fast asleep with her head on the desk.

"Wake up sleepy bones." Catherine said making the lab rat jump.

"Oh hey guys, you won't tell Gill that I was sleeping on the job will you?" Wendy asked.

"Nah, besides we don't know where he is as he's working that case with Sophie and Evan, anyway we have a blood sample from a dead fetus for you to compare to Terry's DNA sample, and yes the unborn child was Rachel's." Catherine said.

"I take it the baby died with her?" Wendy asked and they nodded, Wendy compared the samples and frowned. "Sorry, the kid's not Terry's."

"No need to apologise that means that Terry's the main suspect." Sara said, her pager went off and she looked seeing that the trace analysis was complete.

"I'll get Vega to bring him in for questioning, Sara you see Dave about those trace results." Catherine told her before leaving the room; Sara left the room and went to the Trace lab.

"I here you have results for me?" Sara said entering the lab.

"You heard correctly, the fibres where from a rope commonly used in stage productions to open and close the curtain, not sure how that ended up in a TV studio in the first place but it may be worth looking into any nearby theatres missing a piece of rope." Dave told her giving her the results.

"Thanks Dave, if you excuse me I'm off to interrogate the husband...." She said but Catherine suddenly appeared at the door.

"Terry wasn't at his home address, I checked in with the law firm and he hasn't come to work for the past few days either."

"Great, that means that Terry's fleeing the country." Sara said annoyed as she showed the results to Catherine.

"Weird, I had Vega put out an APB for Terry as a Person Of Interest, hopefully we can catch him before he reached Mexico." Catherine said as the two women left the lab.


End file.
